The Prophetic Imagination (1st Edition) - Walter BrueggemannFew pages into it and not really sure it's my cup o' tea. Unfortunately, don't think I'll get to chance to figure it out just yet. However, an excerpt:

The hypothesis I will explore here is this: The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us... The alternative consciousness to be nurtured, on the one hand, serves to criticize in dismantling the dominant consciousness. To that extent, it attempts to... engage in a rejection and delegitmatizing of the present ordering of things. On the other hand, that alternative consciousness to be nurtured serves to energize persons and communities by its promise of another time and situation toward which the community of faith may move. To that extent it attempts... to live in fervent anticipation of the newness that God has promised and will surely give.

Prophetic Deliverance: The Missing Ministry of Jesus in the Church - T. C. MatherAmazing. That is, if you like me are not used to words like 'deliverance' and 'prophetic' being used in a toned-down Charismatic/Pentecostal-style. It's self-published, so I'd like to know if this could be made available via PDF or somehow easily accessible. Also, one of those rare books that I actually finished.Team of rivals : the political genius of Abraham Lincoln - Doris Kearns GoodwillOkay, my subdued man-crush on Honest Abe may force me to read this eventually. But probably not this one.

Jesus and Nonviolence - Walter WinkSnap! I finally got this book (which I want to quote at length, alas...) and love it so much that I lose it on the very same day.

There are good reasons for reluctance to champion nonviolence. The term itself is negative... "Nonviolence" is identified by many as the injunction to be submissive before the authorities. Romans 13:1-7 has been interpreted as an absolute command to obey the government whatever it does. "Turn the other cheek" became a divine ultimatum to slaves and servants to accept flogging and blows obsequiously. "Love of enemies" was twisted to render the oppressed compliant for the very heart, forgiving every injustice with no thought of changing the system. Nonviolence meant, in the context of this perverse inversion of the gospel, passivity...

When church leaders preach reconciliation without having unequivocally committed themselves to struggle on the side of the oppressed for justice, they are caught straddling a pseudo-neutrality made of nothing but thin air. Neutrality in a situation of oppression always supports the status quo...

A proper translation of Jesus' teaching [in Matthew 5:38-41] would then be, "Don't strike back at evil (or, one who has done you evil) in kind." "Do not retaliate against violence with violence." The Scholars Version is brilliant: "Don't react violently against the one who is evil." Jesus was no less committed to opposing evil than the anti-Roman resistance fighters. The only difference was the means to be used...

Now we are in a better position to see why King James' faithful scholars translated antistenai as "resist not." The king would not want people concluding that they had any recourse against his or any other sovereign's unjust policies...

You can view the interview for this book on the Colbert Report here (hopefully).

Psalms - VariousI hear a lot of evangelicals (good people, good friends) say that they read the Proverbs on a daily basis. Doesn't really make a lot of sense to me, to be honest. It's like reading an advice column and thinking that since it's the Bible, it's all applicable. But if you're going to read some ancient Hebrew poetry, I can't think of a better place to start than these honest (too honest, at times) prayers. Well, maybe the first couple of chapters of Genesis and latter Isaiah...